


Old Scars/Future Hearts

by cashtonasfuck



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Mental Health Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:01:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24147070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cashtonasfuck/pseuds/cashtonasfuck
Summary: Ashton asks Luke out for coffee
Relationships: Luke Hemmings/Ashton Irwin
Comments: 4
Kudos: 34





	Old Scars/Future Hearts

**Author's Note:**

> This was for a fic event on tumblr using the prompt: "I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I have no idea what I’m doing. I almost never do."

Luke’s phone pinged, drawing his attention away from the cooking show he was watching.

_> Wanna go and grab a coffee?_

**_> Sure :) Alfred’s?_ **

_ > Meet you there in 20? _

**_> :)_ **

Luke pulled himself off the sofa, humming quietly as he gathered his wallet and keys. A coffee message from Ashton usually meant that something was bothering him, even if he didn’t know it yet. Luke’s phone pinging again broke him out of his musings - Ashton had tagged him in a post on Instagram. Swiping the notification open, Luke was met with a photo of the two of them, smiling as he tapped the like button. His eyes drifted down to the caption, smile turning into a frown:

_Today I am feeling nostalgic about how much time I spent picking this man's brain whilst making Youngblood. We nurtured each other out of a very lonely and dark place. I am happy we made it out of those times. Love you @Luke5SOS. We are fighters._

There was definitely something bothering Ashton, and Luke was determined to find out what it was.

**—**

Luke saw Ashton sat outside as he approached the coffee shop, fingers drumming on the tabletop, leg bouncing. His stomach twisted uncomfortably as he took in the sight of the other man - Ashton was anxious about something. Luke slid into the seat opposite him, but the older man didn’t even notice his presence. He cleared his throat and Ashton looked up at him startled. 

“You okay there, Ash?” 

The older man chuckled quietly pushing Luke’s coffee towards him.

“Was lost in my thoughts, sorry man. How are you?”

Luke took the lid off the coffee cup and looked at Ashton. The older man looked tired, his smile not quite meeting his eyes. Luke took a sip of his coffee before replying,

“Cut the crap, Ash, what’s wrong?”

“What d’you -”

Luke cut him off with a wave of his hand.

“Ash, I’ve known you long enough to know that something is bothering you. You only message me about coffee if there’s something you want to talk about, but don’t want Calum to know.” Luke ran a hand through his hair before continuing, “After everything we’ve both been through, you don’t have to keep up appearances for me. Just tell me what’s wrong, please.”

Ashton let out a breath and brought his coffee up to his lips, avoiding Luke’s gaze. The younger man was right - there was something bothering him - he just didn’t know how to tell him. Ashton knew he was being ridiculous. The last year and a half had really strengthened his bond with the blonde man, and Luke knew things about him that Michael and Calum still didn’t. They’d pull each other up when the other was falling, both seeing each other at some of their lowest moments. Ashton was grateful for Luke’s presence in his life - he was grateful for all three of his bandmates - but his relationship with Luke had shifted whilst they were writing Youngblood. Ashton knew that Luke had saved him from making some stupid life-choices, and he knew that Luke felt the same. He looked up at Luke, the younger man watching him patiently, blue eyes full of concern. Ashton sucked in a breath, it was now or never.

“Luke, I -” movement behind Luke’s left shoulder cut him off, gaze landing on the paparazzo that was making his way towards them. Ashton swore - why could they never leave them the fuck alone? He sighed heavily, motioning for a bemused Luke to stand and follow him into the safety of the coffee shop. Ashton scanned the room for an empty table, groaning when he couldn’t find one. Why was the universe playing him like this today?

“Hey, Ashton?” His gaze fell on one of the girls behind the counter, “We have an upstairs that I can open up for you if you want?” 

He opened his mouth to reply, Luke cutting him off - 

“That would be great, Kasey, thank you.” 

Ashton raised an eyebrow at Luke being on first name terms with the barista, the younger man just shaking his head and pushing past Ashton to follow her up the stairs. 

**—**

“You gonna tell me what that was about?” Luke asked Ashton once they’d sat themselves down in one of the booths.

“Paps,” Ashton muttered. 

Luke huffed in annoyance before resting his elbows on the table, waiting for Ashton to speak. He knew better than to push him to talk - the older man sometimes struggled to articulate his feelings, and Luke could tell that this was one of those times. He rested his chin on his left hand, bringing his coffee up to take a sip. The flavour danced on his tongue and he hummed quietly at the vanilla coming through against the bitter coffee. He met Ashton’s gaze as he lowered the cup, the older man looking at him with a soft smile on his face. Luke stuck his tongue out at Ashton, earning a chuckle from the other man. 

“I love you, Luke.” The younger man smirked at Ashton’s words and rolled his eyes.

“Love you too, Ash, you know that.” 

Ashton shifted in his seat, looking at the blonde man in front of him. Why was this so hard?

“No, Lu, I -” Ashton sucked in a breath, _here goes nothing_ , “I think I’m _in_ love with you.”

Ashton’s voice was barely a whisper, but he knew that Luke had heard him from the way his eyes widened at his confession. It hung in the air between them, and Ashton wondered if he should have just kept it to himself. He looked away from Luke, closing his eyes and bringing his hands up to rub his temples. He knew he shouldn’t have said anything, and now Luke was going to hate him, and it was going to ruin the band, and - 

“Well, that’s good considering I think I’m in love with you too.” Ashton’s eyes flew open and he looked up at Luke. The younger man smiled at him lazily before continuing, “Mike kept saying that I should just tell you, but I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“Cal said the same thing when I told him how I felt about you.” Ashton admitted, a smile on his face.

“Those assholes, they clearly spoke to each other.” 

Ashton laughed at Luke’s outburst, making a mental note to pull them up on it later. He moved his hand across the table towards Luke, the younger man entwining their fingers eagerly. They sat in comfortable silence as they finished their drinks, Luke absentmindedly rubbing small circles on the side of Ashton’s thumb, earning him a hum of appreciation from the drummer. Luke blushed, glancing at the man opposite - Ashton was looking at him intently. 

“Hey, um, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I have no idea what I’m doing. I almost never do.” 

Luke frowned at Ashton’s words, the older man continuing quickly as he sensed Luke’s confusion. 

“What I mean is - fuck, why is this so hard?” Ashton ran a hand through his hair as he looked at Luke, “you know me better than anyone else, Lu, and I really don’t want to mess this up. You’ve seen me at my worst, and somehow you’re still sticking around and I have no idea why.”

“Ash, it’s _because_ I know all those things about you.” Luke smiled softly at the frown that appeared on the drummer’s face. “You were there for me too, remember? I basically had a breakdown, Ash, and you were there through it all. You saved me. You’re one of the kindest people I’ve ever met.”

Ashton squeezed Luke’s hand, the singer laughing quietly and squeezing back. He knew that he didn’t have to use words for Luke to know how he felt. The drummer leaned across the table and tucked a strand of Luke’s hair behind his ear, the younger man leaning into his touch. Ashton hummed quietly as he rubbed the side of Luke’s jaw, eyes glancing down at the other man’s lips. Luke smiled softly, shifting forward on his chair to bring his face closer to Ashton’s. Ashton swallowed the lump in his throat, wetting his lips as Luke moved to close the gap between them.

Ashton’s phone vibrated loudly on the table, causing both men to jump back from each other in shock. Ashton swore quietly, Calum’s face showing up on the screen as the phone continued vibrating on the tabletop. He sighed, shooting Luke an apologetic glance before picking it up and swiping to answer the call.

“Hey Cal, what’s up?”

Luke could vaguely hear Calum saying something about taking Duke out and Ashton groaned.

“Sorry man, I totally forgot - m’actually out with Luke at the moment.” Ashton gave Luke a soft smile, reaching back across the table to thread their fingers together.

“Yeah, we just grabbed a coffee, we’re at Alfred’s. Wha- hang on a minute Cal.”

Michael’s ringtone blared out of Luke’s pocket, the singer pulling his hand out of Ashton’s to grab the phone before bringing it up to his ear.

“Hi Mike. M’out with Ash at the moment, can I call you back?” Ashton shook his head furiously at Luke’s words, the younger man raising an eyebrow as Ashton smirked. “Actually Mike, hold on a sec.”

“Cal, I’m just gonna put you on speaker for a bit - Luke has Michael on the phone, and we need to talk to you about something.” Ashton grinned at Luke as he put Calum on speaker, the blonde man frowning slightly as he did the same with Michael. 

“You’re on speaker with Ash and Cal, Mike.”

“We need to talk to you both.” Ashton explained, the grin on his face growing wider at the confused look on Luke’s face. 

Calum and Michael both said that they were listening, Ashton smirking at Luke before speaking.

“So, Luke and I discovered something very _interesting_ just now. It seems like you’ve both been speaking to each other about us behind our backs - anything to say?”

There was silence from both phones for a second, before Michael finally spoke.

“It was Calum’s fault!”

“Michael what the fuck, man?!”

“Shut up Cal - look guys, Calum told me that Ashton had been talking to him about something, and all I said was that hypothetically you’d said something similar Luke, so I didn’t _tell_ him exactly -” Calum started to protest, Luke and Ashton glancing at each other in amusement.

“Boys, please!” Ashton spoke over them both, the phones going silent again. “Luke and I talked and… well we decided we’re just better off as friends.” 

The singer’s mouth fell open at Ashton’s words, the drummer just rolling his eyes and intertwining their fingers again. Luke looked down at their joined hands, then back at Ashton, understanding finally hitting him. He stuck his tongue out at Ashton before speaking.

“Yeah, we don’t think it’ll work out honestly.”

The silence from both phones made Ashton check they were both still connected, both clearly trying to process what had just been said.

Calum was the first to speak, expressing his disappointment, but if they’d decided it was best then he supported them either way. Michael agreed with the bassist, telling Luke he’d call him later before they both disconnected their calls. 

Luke burst out laughing after both phones disconnected, tugging Ashton back across the table towards him and finally pressing their lips together. Ashton hummed quietly, threading his fingers in the singer’s hair as they broke apart, resting their foreheads together as he spoke quietly.

“Wanna come back to mine?” 

Luke hummed in response, before pulling himself out of Ashton’s hold and placing his phone back in his pocket.

“I need to go and let Petunia out first, that okay?” 

Ashton nodded, standing up from his chair and gathering their empty coffee cups. 

“Let’s go and let that giant dog of yours out, and then we can order food for dinner maybe?”

“Sounds like a plan, Ash.”

**—**

Calum let himself into Ashton’s house, dinner in one arm and Duke in the other - he figured that Ashton would probably want company after an awkward conversation with Luke. He walked into the kitchen placing the food on the side and made his way into the living room with Duke whining to get free from his hold.

“In a sec, Duke, just wanna check -”

Calum stopped dead in the doorway, taking in the sight on the couch before him.

“Are you kidding me?!”

Luke yelped as he heard Calum’s voice, pushing Ashton off him and scrambling to pull the blanket off the back of the couch.

“Lu, what -” Ashton saw Calum standing in the doorway and he groaned. “Uh, hi Cal - what’re you doing here?”

Calum smirked at his bandmates before pulling his phone out of his pocket and pressing it to his ear, letting Duke out into the garden as he waited for the call to connect.

“Hey Mike - you owe me $200.”

Luke groaned at Calum’s words, hiding his face in Ashton’s shoulder. Ashton pressed his lips to the top of Luke’s head as Calum continued speaking to Michael.

“Mmhmm, I just walked into the living room and Ashton had Luke’s dick down his throat. Was kinda hot actually - never thought Ash was a bottom.”

Ashton grabbed the TV remote off the coffee table and launched it at Calum.


End file.
